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A NEW EYELESS, STRIDULATING THERIDION SPIDER FROM CAVES IN THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS (ARANEAE, THERIDIIDAE)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Stewart B. Peck
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6
William A. Shear
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia, USA23943and The American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA10024

Abstract

Theridion strepitus sp. nov. is described from lava tube caves from Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador. It is the only species known in this worldwide genus that is eyeless and it is the only Galápagos species that has stridulatory picks on the male abdomen. The stridulatory apparatus demonstrates that the species is not a descendant from the other Theridion species known in the Galápagos, but is probably a relict of a lineage now extinct there in epigean habitats.

Résumé

On décrit Theridion strepitus sp. nov. provenant de cavernes formées par les coulées de lave sur l’Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador. C’est la seule espèce du genre répandu mondialement qui est démunie d’yeux, et la seule espèce des Galápagos dont le mâle est muni de crêtes stridulatoires sur l’abdomen. L’appareil stridulatoire démontre que l’espèce ne descend pas des autres espèces de Theridion connues aux Galápagos, et qu’elle est probablement un représentant encore existant d’une lignée maintenant disparue à cet endroit dans les habitats épigées.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1987

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